The Flame in The Heart of The Stars
by SakuraMoon2016
Summary: When minding her own business, Lucy bumps into a total stranger and eventually ends up dating him. However, because of this, she isn't realising some sudden changes in her pink haired friend. What the hell is wrong with Natsu, and just who is this stranger? Please review if you enjoy :)
1. Chp 1 - How it all started

"Ahhh, it's such a nice day. I hope there are some good jobs at the guild" Lucy Heartfilia said as she was strolling down the side of the canal, ignoring the concerns of the men in the boat that she passes every day. Plue waddled by her side, agreeing with his Celestial Spirit owner's comment with, what could be considered, his catchphrase, "Puun Puun".

The streets were quiet as most of the normal humans would be at work, and the wizards at their present guilds or away on job requests. The sun shone brightly on the town of Magnolia with a subtle breeze every now and then. The pleasant atmosphere put the golden-haired girl in high spirits and optimistic for the day ahead. After all, her rent was overdue by a couple of days; her landlady wasn't happy about it.

Lucy closed her eyes and enjoyed bathing in the sunlight, certain of her footsteps so that she wouldn't fall in, and started humming a song that her mother used to sing for her when she was younger. It always brought her happy memories that song, when her mother was alive and before her father started using her for business, an object instead of a cherished daughter. Still, she was glad he understood her love for her guild and friends in the end, even if it took her being missing for seven years for him to do it.

Whilst she was happily making her, however, what Lucy didn't calculate into walking with her eyes closed, was that not all people would be hidden away indoors, as Magnolia was quite a famous tourist destination, what with wizards and magic and all, and that some might appear from random places and also happen to be in her path.

Whatever conclusions you may have drawn, were probably right. It didn't end well.

"Aghh!" Lucy screamed as she fell into the canal she was walking beside. Luckily, the men in the boat had already passed and so were not here to see the incident (she wouldn't be allowed to live it down). But unluckily, she was sopping wet and very confused.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you like that! I tripped over my own fee. Sorry, I'm a bit clumsy"

A stranger loomed over her from where she was staying afloat in the water and he seemed to be holding out his hand for her to take and be pulled out from the water. Lucy looked at the man's face and saw that he was genuinely sorry and concerned for her now wet-being. She accepted his hand and was dragged out from the cold water and felt some heat from the sun beaming down onto her still giving her some optimism, but the occasional gentle breeze took that all away again. And although the man looked sorry, Lucy still wasn't happy.

"Oi, why didn't you watch where you were going? Some people just don't look before they act nowadays, now I have to walk all the way back to my apartment!" Lucy was raging and an angry tick mark had appeared on her forehead. Fearing what would happen next, Plue chose this moment to return to the Celestial Spirit World. The stranger seemed to be a bit put off as well, but then had a sheepish smile on his face.

"I really am sorry about that, I'm known for my clumsiness where I'm from, and thought I might be able to go somewhere where nobody knew. Funny how that worked out" He chuckled a bit, but Lucy's death glare quickly silenced him.

"Oh, but about having to back home to get changed, I don't think that will be necessary. You see, I'm actually a fire user, but I learnt an ability when I was younger that allows me to transfer my heat to other people. I know you don't have a reason to trust me, considering that you just met me and that I just knocked you into the canal, but would you so kindly give me your hand?"

Lucy reluctantly held out her hand out, with her palm facing up. The man placed his hand on top of hers and Lucy's eyes slid closed in contentment as she felt heat move from her hand throughout her whole body. She couldn't place it, but she felt like she had felt something similar to this before. Having heat surrounding her...

Her thoughts were lost when the heat dissipated. Her clothes were nice and dry from the unknown heat source and felt better when this meant she didn't have to return home and could get her rent money, but that nice feeling disappeared when she heard the man chuckling yet again.

Lucy's chocolate-glazed eyes were met with glistening emerald ones as the tall stranger managed to finally calm down a bit.

"Sorry. But, it just occurred to me that I just used what could've been potentially dangerous magic on a pretty, young lady, yet I don't even know your name!" Lucy's cheeks were painted rose at the thought of being called a 'pretty, young lady' but disappeared after a few seconds as she started giggling too.

"That's right. My name is Lucy, Lucy Heartfilia. Don't worry, I'm also a wizard and belong to Fairy Tail" At this, Lucy rose her right hand and showed him her mark with pride and a smile on her face, she always did that. Just being able to say that she belonged to Fairy Tail made Lucy's grin 10 times wider and more genuine.

"I'm Trevor Redstone, a fire mage user. Fairy Tail, huh? That's amazing. Judging by the fact that you had the Gate of the Canis Minor open, you're a Celestial Wizard, right?" Lucy had her mouth agape from Trevor's knowledge of other types of magic than his own. Not even she knew that much detail about her guild mates magic, however she eventually snapped out of it believing that she was creating an odd silence, and nodded her head.

 _'A heat/fire wizard, huh? Just like Natsu. Oh!'_ And this was when Lucy finally recalled that familiar feeling from before of being covered head to toe in warmth. It was only one of the many, many, _**many**_ _,_ times Natsu had snuck into her bed and encaged her like some sort of body pillow. The thought made her grimly shiver, Natsu's body pillow, ugh, that had weird written all over it. She suddenly realised how much she was thinking about her _**teammate**_

and shook her head violently, before looking up at him and smiling.

Then that was when she took in his looks. His face was young, no visible signs of wrinkles or scars, meaning that he was probably around the same age as her. His hair was a nice golden-brown colour that shone in the sun, and his eyes were the colour of an emerald's, the green shining just like one. He was tall, had a good physique and build and... then Lucy looked at how tight his shirt seemed. His shirt was white, giving her a good peek through to the inside. He had a very prominent six-pack hidden under there. The size of his chest made her instantly think back to Natsu, and his bulging muscles. She'd managed to have a good feel of them several times, whether that be when he went flying into her after Gray gave him a powerful punch, or that time when she was naked and fell into him and they rolled around in that barrel that went tumbling into the city during the time of the Grand Magic Games and the Dragons. She realised that she was, once again, thinking about her pink haired friend and mentally slapped herself.

"Uh, sorry. I kind of spaced out there for a bit"

"It's fine, really. Umm... I know this may seem kinda weird, but I still feel pretty guilty about knocking you into the canal. Would you perhaps like to get a drink with me sometime?" The man was slightly blushing and looking off to the sides. Lucy thought that he looked quite cute like that.

"Sure, that sounds great"

"Then, I'll meet you at the Hanami Café tomorrow at noon?"

"Perfect. I'll see you then"

The two parted and Lucy continued on her way to the guild. Little did she know that that encounter would be the start of a weird adventure of her own…


	2. Chp 2 - Friends?

Lucy thought about the man, Trevor, all the way to the guild. Such an occurrence had never happened to her before, unless she counted Cana's 'fated meeting' as one, which she didn't as Cana ended up going in her place on the date instead.

Her encounter with Trevor put her in high spirits, especially considering that she didn't have to go home and change her clothes before heading back out to the guild again. With that in mind, she waltzed up to the doors of Fairy Tail, and with a big grin and loud voice, opened the doors and shouted "Ohio, minna!"

Some responses were heard back, but none of them louder then the cheery barmaid, Mira. "Ohio, Lucy. You're in good spirits, did something happen recently?"

"Am I not allowed to be in such a good mood without there being a reason behind it?" Lucy replied, a fake pout on her face.

At that moment, an certain blue cat flew above her head and landed on the bar, near where Lucy sat. "Did you finally lose weight? It's about time, I would never be able to keep carrying you around when you were as heavy as- MMMPH! Lushy, let go offa ma lipsh!" Lucy had used her hand to squish his lips shut, and she wasn't planning to let go any time soon by the looks of it. "Urusei!"

"Come on Luce, give him a break for once" A masculine voice perked up from behind her, and when she turned to look, he was now standing beside her, with his arms crossed and a frown on his face which made his eyebrows furrow.

"No! I am fed up of your annoying cat insulting me. If I was that bad, would I have a date tomorrow?"

"A date! Ah, Lucy, I'm so happy for you. Who is it? Do we know him? What's he like? What does he look like? Is he-"

"Mira, calm down! No, you don't know him. I met him this morning. Now that I think about it, it's actually quite funny how we met. I was walking by the canal on my way to the guild, when suddenly-"

Lucy was interrupted when Natsu slammed his hand on the bar-top, almost breaking it with his brute strength, turning quite a few heads of people in the guild. She turned her head to face him, only to see his eyes covered by his hair, casting a dark shadow on his face. Lucy only saw him like this when he was facing enemies, to see him like this now, it really scared her.

"Why are you going on a date with a man you just met? He could be a killer, or worse. Who knows what he might do to you, Lucy" Natsu said this in a terrifyingly low voice, almost a growl. The guild was in a deadly silence, as confused people just looked at Natsu and Lucy and wondered what caused them to be fighting like this, it never happened. For all they knew, Natsu treated Lucy like the most important person in his life, aside from Happy.

"Do you not think I know that? Besides, even if he did try to harm me, which I _highly doubt_ , I can protect myself"

"I'm not saying that and you know it! I just think it's a bit sudden"

"Sudden! The only thing that's sudden is you deciding what I can and can't do. I'm not a Princess needing to be protected by a Dragon from any Prince that tries to make my life better. We've been friends for years, is that really all you thought I was?"

This stunned Natsu into silence. Of course he didn't think that, he just thought he was protecting her as a friend. _Friend,_ that word he could never stop thinking about. That's all they were, _friends_ , and that's all they'd ever be. No matter how much he thought about her, that was all she thought of him as, and it killed him inside. Of course, recently, he had just discovered how he really felt about her through some counselling with Happy, and it changed him. He started looking at her differently, and sometimes his mind would wonder into what _could_ be, but when he came back into reality, his dreams came crashing down with him. _'Just friends'_ he thought, ' _Just friends_ '.

Natsu was silent longer then he intended to be, and Lucy took that as the answer to her question.

"Right. Thanks" And with that, she ducked her head to hide the mounts of tears in her eyes, threatening to run down her face, and silently walked out of the guild.

' _Friends? Not anymore_ '


	3. Chp 3 - The Date

The day of the date finally rolled around and it was a perfect day for it. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky of Magnolia, and the streets were buzzing with people. There was a breeze every now and then but nothing that threatened a bad day.

But even a little sun couldn't stop the jittering of nerves in Lucy's stomach. It was half an hour before she and Trevor were to meet up, and no matter what she told herself, the hurricane in her stomach made her retch but nothing came up. Her face was pale, like she'd seen a ghost, but she promised herself she wouldn't mess up and have to redo her makeup that had taken her hours to get perfect.

And while her makeup was perfect, her outfit was stunning. She was wearing a cute, flowery pink dress that had a black halter neckline, and stopped just above her knees. Her footwear was baby pink dolly shoes with matching coloured bow accessories on each side of her head. Her hair was piled into a messy bun on top of her head, but she pulled it off sexily. She. Looked. Stunning!

Lucy was drinking a glass of milk in the hopes that it would settle her stomach. But just when she thought it was getting better, flashbacks of the day before presented themselves from the subconscious of her mind and made her feel worse again. She honestly didn't know if the pain was from nerves, or the guilt from yelling at Natsu.

' _Maybe I should go apologise. But he upset me first, maybe I should wait for him to apologise to me. Then again, if it's Natsu, what if he brushes it off like he always does?'_

She sighed and lowered her head. Then she glanced out the window to see if she could see him, unlikely though. They hadn't seen each other since yesterday and to be honest, her home felt a little lonely without his happy-go-lucky attitude. She even missed Happy, even though he just insulted or teased her most of the time.

Glancing at the clock, she gasped as she realised that it was almost time for her date, so did some final checks on her appearance and satisfied, she made her way to the café.

The Hanami café was a popular resort in this part of Magnolia. It was named after the famous Hanami tree that glowed magical rainbow coloured petals on a very rare occasion. Having the café named after it brought it many more tourists and travellers which affected the town greatly. It was quite today, which gave it a nice, peaceful atmosphere.

But even that didn't calm Lucy.

She'd arrived earlier than expected and decided to get herself an Aqua Crescent Milkshake with a straw and little balls on top that changed colour. She then headed to a table outside and sat with the wind blowing her golden halo of hair around her face and making her feel refreshed.

She looked at her phone and glanced at the clock. 12:05.

' _Maybe he's just running a bit late'_ she tried to persuade herself. So she just sat there, with her milkshake and her own thoughts.

She thought about Natsu. She needed to talk to him, they never fought. It could all just be pinned down as a misunderstanding anyway. But now, she feared he was almost right.

 _Almost_.

Because whilst he did hurt her, it wasn't through him _doing_ anything to her. It was because he hadn't even made the effort to show up.

With a heavy-hearted sigh, she collected her stuff and made the long way home in hopes that somewhere along the way, something would improve her day.


	4. Chp 4 - Resolution

Lucy's POV

Looking down at the floor with disappointment and sadness, Lucy made her way home.

She walked down a path lined with cherry blossom trees that were being rustled by the wind, resulting in thousands of little cherry blossoms to leave their home and dance in the air, before they landed softly on the ground with the others. But not even the beautiful sight of one of her favourite things could cheer her up.

She felt like crying. She just wanted to scream, let all her anger out and let the tears flow.

 _'How could I be so stupid? I've grown up reading too many Fairy Tales to actually believe that love at first sight existed. Natsu was right all along, I shouldn't have defended Trevor, after all, I didn't even know the guy well enough, which is shown blatantly by the fact that he just stood me up!'_

She stopped her slow stroll abruptly, and then the water works began. Whilst she didn't scream like she wanted to, she just stood there and sobbed. She brought her hand up to her face and tried to hide any evidence of her weakness, but more tears just took their place until eventually, Lucy brought her other hand up and buried her face in them to match her trembling figure.

She didn't know how long she stood there or how many people walked past her, judging her and saying that whatever happened, she probably deserved it for being so ridiculous.

Until through her loud sobbing, she thought she heard her voice being called, but she didn't know by who. So she teared away her face from her palms and swung her head around to see the mysterious caller.

Her heart did backflips on the inside.

* * *

Natsu's POV

Natsu was sat on his couch in his home. Or trying to sit would be more accurate, as Natsu was so restless that even Happy was getting annoyed.

He decided that he wouldn't go to the Guild that day in fear of Lucy bringing her mysterious man to check it out, and that was an awkward position he didn't want to be in, so he decided to stay home with Happy.

But different versions of that scenario kept playing out in his head, hence his restlessness. Each time he tried to think of a quick scenario that would end up with Lucy ditching that guy and going with him instead, but all were to no avail. He was just on the brink of what he thought would be the perfect end, when he was pulled out of it by a screech from his little fellow feline.

"Natsu, you kicked me off the couch! I was just about to fall into a deep sleep about fish and you ruined it"

"Gomen, Happy. I was just thinking-"

"I don't care. You ruined my sleep about fish, now I have to go eat fish to make up for it. I don't want this to happen again so go take a walk whilst I go look for some fish!"

Natsu was gobsmacked by two things, 1) the way in which Happy had just spoken to him then, mind you it wasn't the first time Happy has yelled at him about fish, thinking back to the time when he went fishing with Happy, caught one and then he burned it and Happy ran away crying, 2) why didn't he think of going for a walk! The fresh air would certainly clear his head, and he could go somewhere quiet as to not run into Lucy and... _him._

So Natsu head out on his walk. He started off walking in the forest next to where him and Happy lived, but as he went deeper and deeper in thought, he completely lost track of where he was. The only thing that made him realise how far he had wondered was when he walked into a massive tree stump, whacked his head and fell backwards, landing on his ass. He blinked several times before he evaluated what had just happened to him, and that's when the throbbing pain of banging his head hit him and he tried to soothe the sore spot whilst muttering under his breath.

That's when he smelt it. He knew that smell. It was half one of his favourite things, but the other half he didn't ever want to associate with it.

 _'Lucy and tears'_

He spun his head around trying to find the source of the smell, when he finally caught her in his sight.

His heart stopped.

She was stood in the middle of the path, her back to him with her shoulders shaking and her face hidden from sight by her golden halo of hair falling next to it as she had her head down.

"Lucy" He said it so quietly, almost like a whisper. He didn't even know that he had called her until she turned her head around to face him, her mouth slightly agape and her beautiful hazel eyes puffy and red.

"Natsu..."

Seeing her face so sad and broken, he couldn't bear to look at her like that. So he did the only thing he knew would make her brighten up in that exact moment. He smiled. And funnily enough, it worked as she started smiling back.

"Lucy, I'm so glad I bumped into you here. I've not stopped thinking about what happened yesterday and I am so, _so_ sorry, I completely overreacted and I don't think of you as just some damsel in distress, in truth you're the best knight in Fairy Tail! But don't tell Erza I said that, she'd have my head"

Lucy laughed at his words and blushed a bit at the same time. Of course she knew that he thought highly of her, they were best friends for pete's sake!

"Natsu, I'm sorry too. I know you don't think of me like that, I was just being stubborn, and I was overreacting and-"

She paused.

That's when she took the situation in fully.

"Natsu, why are you on the floor?"

Oops. He forgot about that, probably because he was overjoyed at the sight of her, even if she was crying. But then that makes it his duty to cheer her up doesn't it?

"I was thinking when I walked into a tree, hit my head and landed down here." He didn't even give her time to process that before he moved on to the next subject he had in his mind.

"Do you maybe wanna go get a drink? I don't mean go get a drink alone, I mean one with me, together,and we'll both be there, drinking and-"

"Natsu, I don't know what you're on about in your little ramblings, but yes, I would _love_ to go get a drink right now"

"Good. It's settled. Both you and me getting a drink. Together. Now"

Lucy leant out her arm and offered him a hand up. He took it, then with the biggest of grins, he grabbed her arm and they raced to the café.


	5. Chp 5 - Now or never

Lucy was so swept off her feet that everything just zoomed past her. She swear she hit at least 5 people because of Natsu's recklessness but she didn't have time to apologise as by the time she looked back, they were basically a dot.

She didn't even know where they were going, but the thought of Natsu surprising her kinda felt nice. Whilst he did surprise her every day doing something so Natsu-like, it was ver rare when it was a heart-warming surprise, such as when he undug the Hanami tree and sent it down the canal by her apartment.

But this one made her want to slap him. Right across his dense head.

He'd brought her to Hanami café.

She snatched her hand out of his in shock and he turned to her with a questioning look, that was when she realised that she hadn't told him about where her date was meant to be. She mentally apologised to him in her head and looked at him with a fake smile on her face so that he wouldn't notice how upset she actually was. He did.

"Uhhh, HEY! Why don't I go get us some drinks while you go find us somewhere to sit?" He asked nervously. He wasn't used to being in situations like this. Not where Lucy was upset, 'cause he always knew how to cheer her up, even if it was accidentally. But ones where she was interested in another man and he was hopelessly in love with her. That kind.

"Okay..." She replied unsurely. The way he shouted 'HEY!' after that stutter made her jump out of her skin. She thought he was acting a bit weird, but dismissed it because she thought it might be because that she's upset that's making her see things different. Little idea did she have.

* * *

They both sat in the sunshine, with Lucy slowly sipping on her drink. Natsu had a cherry slushy and drank it so fast he got brain freeze.

They chatted about their past adventures and laughing about how funny some things seemed now.

After a pause, Natsu blurted out, "So, what's wrong?", which surprised Lucy so much she choked on her drink. When she could breath again, she said "What? Nothing's wrong with me, I'm fine".

Natsu gave her a disbelieving look. He had heightened senses and was her best friend, of course he'd notice, so Lucy surrendered.

"Fine. I got stood up" Whilst she was saying this she diverted her gaze from Natsu's and her face instantly showed the sadness she was actually feeling inside as she knew she could trust Natsu.

"That bastard stood you up!? Why the hell would he do something like that, what gives him the right to-"

"Natsu, calm down! And I'm fine, really. I mean, yes I'm still a bit upset, but I'm getting over it. I still have the Guild don't I?" And with this she showed him a sad smile. He knew that she was done with the conversation and that she didn't want to think about it. He sighed and settled down.

"Besides, what are you doing out without Happy?"

"He yelled at me after I knocked him off the couch" Lucy burst out in laughter. Genuine laughter. See, he always knew how to cheer her up.

Wiping tears from her eyes, she asked "Why the hell did you knock him off the couch?"

This was it. Now or never.

"I was restless from thinking about something, and actually, the reason I was out was because I was looking for you, sorta. I know you've noticed that I've been acting a bit weird, yesterday being a perfect example, and the reason for that is you,"

Lucy gave him a confused look.

"Look, I know I'm probably not making any sense. But, I've recently realised that I don't want to be your friend. I mean I do, but not like _friend_ friend. Look, basically, all I'm trying to say is that I lo-"

"Lucy!" Came an unrecognised voice.

Both of them looked up to see who was calling her.

"Trevor!"

His heart broke. Of course this would happen to him at this very moment.

Trevor ran up catching his breath. "I didn't know if you'd still be here. *pant* I'm So, so so sorry I'm late. My cat was up last night ill, so I was just making sure he was fine before I came here. I would have contacted you, but I didn't know how"

Lucy replied to him but all sounds were muted as Natsu just stared at them, trying to process what was happening and what he should do. He wanted to dig a hole a just lay there, or just disappear from existence altogether. His mind brought him back at the worst possible time.

"Hey, I'm still up for that date if you are"

She was going to reply yes when she remembered the reason she came back here was because of Natsu. She looked over at him and swears that he looked a bit ghost-like and pale.

"That's fine, you two go ahead and have your date. I've got things to do anyway, I could go fishing to apologise to Happy, or go on a mission. I'm fine. I just hope that you're okay now?"

"Yeah, thanks Natsu" And she smiled a smile that made his heart melt and forget the situation entirely for a few blissful minutes. He returned her smile, turned around and marched off without looking back.

 _'I feel so weird. Why is my heart beating so much? Why do I feel like I'm on fire without using my magic?'_ All these different questions ran around his brain, but no matter how much he thought, he still couldn't find the answers. He didn't know what to do. So he decided to head to the Guild and get a nearby mission where he could beat up enemies. _'That might make me calm down'_ , so he went, without Happy.

* * *

Lucy's POV

It was coming up to the end of the date and she enjoyed herself so much, she forgot how upset she was just a few hours before. They talked about everything, Lucy's jobs at the Guild, Trevor's own Guild has just recently been published in Sorcerer Weekly, and they laughed their heads off and the stupidity of the other.

Lucy was just starting to walk away when Trevor called her.

"Hey, Lucy. See, I've had a really good time today and I wouldn't normally do things like this, but I did kinda have to make up for knocking you into the canal" Lucy giggled at this. "Anyway, meeting you was a really nice miracle, and I was wondering if... well... *pause* if you'd want to be my girlfriend?" As soon as he finished speaking he scratched the back of his head and looked up at her shyly.

 _'He looks so cute like that. It kinda reminds me of when Nat-'_ She cut her thoughts off there and rewinded what he had just said. He wanted her to be his girlfriend. Her. HER. She gave up on trying to find a boyfriend what with all the mishaps she gets in to. But she'd be lying if she said she hadn't always secretly wanted one. Someone she could share things with, someone to comfort her when things went wrong. The first person to truly love her for who she is and want her to be happy since her mother died.

"Really? Um, sure. I'd love to be your girlfriend!" She grinned when saying the last part. Her, a girlfriend.

"Great. I'll call you"

He nodded at her, and then they both walked off in opposite directions. Lucy was jumping with joy, before panic flooded her.

 _'Wait. I've never been a girlfriend before. WHAT THE HELL DO I DO!?'_

* * *

P.S. Just gonna warn you now. You are all going to die over the next chapter.

I'll upload it when I've finished it.

And started it.

Oops.


	6. Chp 6 - Falling deeper and deeper

Natsu's POV

Later on that night, it had turned a bit chilly but was nothing unbearable, and actually quite nice after the hot weather from that day. It was quiet throughout the town as everyone was in their beds sleeping. So of course, Natsu decided to take a midnight stroll, as it were. He'd tried to fall asleep for 2 hours now and still ended up nowhere close to it. Happy had taken the couch as he really didn't want to be kicked off during his deep sleep about fish. Not that even a hurricane would be able to get him out of it anyway. Besides, he just felt like something in the back of his mind was nagging him to go on a walk, almost like a hidden instinct. Considering he wouldn't fall asleep if he didn't, Natsu went for a walk.

He staggered through the maze that was the forest outside his house, before entering the town and going around there. He enjoyed seeing the town so peaceful, it was rare considering what the Guild got into most of the time.

He continued to stroll around the centre, before going onto the market streets by the canal and stopping abruptly in his path. Lucy looked flustered and was pacing up and down on the bridge. Why was she flustered and pacing up and down the bridge? Why was she doing it at this time of night?

Gently, he said, "Lucy?" and she stopped and turned to face him.

"Natsu. How come you're here at this time of night?"

"I could ask you the same thing. At least I seem sane" She fake pouted at that and he just grinned at her.

"I dunno. I'm freaking out. At the end of the date, after you left, Trevor asked me to be his girlfriend and I kind of said yes"

"Kind of?" Natsu replied, trying to hide his sadness and attempt at trying to sound normal. He pulled it off successfully.

"Okay, I did say yes. But now I'm panicking because I've never been a girlfriend before and so I'm not girlfriend material, heck I haven't even kissed a guy before! I mean, of course I've read about how to do them and stuff like that in books but I've never actually practiced it and what if I do it wrong and he dumps me and then I never get a boyfriend!" She panted after this trying to get her breath back, which all whooshed away when Natsu said,

"Then, why don't you practice on me?"

Lucy's face instantly went beetroot red and screamed 'What!' but Natsu ignored that and elaborated further.

"What? You said you wanted some experience didn't you? Besides, it's not like I've kissed anyone before anyway so I don't know what I'm doing either. You can be my teacher" He did his signature grin and that was the thing the calmed her down.

"I guess you have a point" She hesitated ever so slightly before composing herself and standing before him.

His eyes widened and his heart was beating frantically in his chest. He never thought she'd actually agree to that. Mind you, he didn't even know what he was saying until he saw Lucy's face turn the colour of Erza's hair, but by then he thought _'Screw it. I've already started so might as well finish'._

So, he decided to think about the positives. He was about to be kissed with someone he was hopelessly in love with. Yep, that calmed him down! (Sarcasm)

He cleared his throat. straightened himself and looked deeply into her beautiful hazel orbs.

Natsu remembered some of the Guild's conversations when it came to kissing women. Macao and Wakaba were joking around when Cana went over to them and set them straight. He remembered yelling at them about how a women should be properly treated, and that hen they kiss, the man holding them calmed them and showed that they appreciated them.

 _'That's it! The way you hold her, huh? But, I still don't exactly know how to do that'_ He remembered catching Alzack and Bisca kissing sometimes, out of the limelight. He imagined that and then saw the way Alzack held her.

 _'I guess I should put my hands on her waist, like this'_

Natsu slowly reached out and placed one arm on either side of Lucy's waist. She was so fragile, he thought that he was going to break her. But Lucy replied back to him by wrapping her arms around his neck, which brought them that so much closer that he could feel her heavy breathing.

"Are you sure that you want to go through with this, Natsu?" Her voice smooth as honey and looking up at him through her eyelashes with her eyes half-closed with something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Definitely"

"Right. I'll lean in first, then you turn your head ever so slightly in the opposite direction" He nodded as a reply.

Lucy's face slowly came closer to his, and as she did her eyes closed. He did what she said and closed his eyes too, waiting for the feel of her against him. And it happened.

Natsu's body felt even warmer then what he was used to, and he felt a tingling sensation all throughout, as well as that of fireworks. He wrapped his arms around her whole waist and tightened his grip, not allowing her to leave him at any point. Not that she minded, as when he did that, he swear that he heard her moan a little bit.

Time felt like it stopped, and he wouldn't of cared if it had, as he would get to live out this blissful moment forever. He felt happy. More than happy, ecstatic! He didn't even care if Gray came over, flying insults and trying to pick a fight because he was perfectly content here. Not even Gray could put him down.

But something could put him down. And that was when she broke the kiss with him.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked into her half-lidded ones, before she tore herself away from his grasp and composed herself.

"Thanks, Natsu. You've really helped me out here" Lucy said before she turned around and walked away.

Never mind two, his heart broke into millions of tiny pieces.

Those words,

had killed him.


	7. Chp 7 - No turning back

A week had passed since Lucy kissed him on that bridge. After she left him standing there, he decided to just try and forget the whole thing and literally walked around the whole of Magnolia trying to forget it. He thought of that stripper ice bastard, trying to pick a fight with him, only for both of them to get punched through the floor by Erza. He thought about when he was younger and had just joined the guild, which led to him becoming friends with Lisanna, then the raising of Happy, with Lisanna saying they were just like a family and that she wanted to get married. Which led to him thinking about Lucy again!

The day after hit him the hardest, when she came in stating that she was dating the guy. He nearly punched something, but waiting to see if he came in next to her so he could punch him for stealing away his Lucy. So everyday he would get into more fights with anybody and everybody and then go into the forest and start yelling.

However, these actions didn't go unnoticed, especially by a certain ice mage who he fought with the most. Erza had picked up on it too as she knew this was unusual, considering his behaviour. They had talked to each other about it, and had a main suspicion that it had something to do with Lucy dating that man. So, they decided to try and corner him, in a way. They needed him to snap out of it, and then get verbal confirmation for what it was that was bothering him. But, they didn't know when they were going to do it, until it kinda just slipped out.

You see, Natsu was again trying to pick a fight with Gray at the guild, this was the 5th time that day that he tried to do it, without a valid reason. So when he said no, just as Natsu was about to have a go at him, Gray lashed out at him.

"No means no, Natsu! What is it with you that you have to consistently have to pick fights with anyone every five minutes? You acting different from usual and everyone has noticed, but you won't even fucking tell us! WHAT. THE. HELL. IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Gray shouted. As soon as he started, the guild went into dead silence and listened to what was happening. Even after, no one dared to speak due to fear of Natsu either telling everyone to shut up, yelling at Gray to shut up, or breaking something. What came next surprised them.

Natsu stood there and took the whole thing. His mouth was closed, his fists were clenched, and he stared at Gray dead in the eyes, without ever blinking. He then looked down at the ground for a few seconds, then walked out of the guild.

Whilst everyone is staring at Gray, he looks to Erza for confirmation, she nods, they then leave and start following him to his house, delicately making sure that they stay a way away because of Natsu's sensitive hearing.

When they reach his house, they knock on the door. Although it takes him a while to open, probably because he knew it was them, he eventually does. And when he does, he looks at them both, his face composed from any emotions and says "What do you two want? I'd much rather be here alone then with you two pestering m-"

"Natsu," Gray interrupted "What the fuck is wrong with you? We want a straight answer, and no dicking about"

He looked at both of their faces when he said that, they meant business. He kew he'd lost this, so he stepped aside and let them both in. They both glided past him and sat on opposite ends of the couch. Natsu grabbed a dining table chair and placed it in front of the couch, leaving some distance between them all.

There was complete silence.

He didn't know what to say. He really didn't want to answer there questions, but if the whole guild knew something was bothering him, then they'd all be at his throat sooner or later anyway. He'd rather just have 2 people instead of 20, even if it was Gray and Erza. He didn't know why they wanted to talk to him anyway,

they'd probably already guessed what was wrong, maybe they wanted verbal confirmation. Still, he had only just absolutely positively confirmed that he was in love with Lucy. But maybe saying it would relieve something off his chest, if it didn't make it worst first.

"What... uh..."

He gulped.

"What did you wanna know first?" His voice went slightly higher pitched, but was ignored.

"What's going on with you and Lucy?" Erza spoke up. Natsu processed this and tried to worm his way out of it.

"Nothing's going on with me and Lucy, we're as close as ev-"

"No, Natsu. What is going on with YOU, and Lucy"

Crap. No escape or turning back now.

"You probably already know, but for some while, I have had feelings for Lucy. And now, I have discovered that I'm in love with her, completely" He tried to avoid their gaze by either looking to the side, or to the floor, but still saw Erza nod her head, confirming her suspicions. They remained quiet so that he could finish.

"However, after she started dating, _him_ , I've started to get jealous. So that's why I've been trying to get into a lot of fights, to distract myself"

"Then why don't you tell her?"

"Because what's the point. She's already dating that other guy, so why would she leave him for me? She doesn't feel anything for me, and so even if she did go out with me, what kind of a friend would I be to make her unhappy and trapped, she left her family the last time that happened, so what if she left us for good. I'd never be able to live with myself"

Now having all the information they needed, both of them stood up and left. On her way through the door, Erza turned around and said, "Thanks, Natsu. I know how much it hurts to love someone when you can't be with them" Thinking she must be referring to Jellal, he nodded, and then she closed the door, and left silence in her wake. Refusing to cry over this, he got up and lay down on the couch, and tried to dream about how happy he and Lucy could be, when he drifted off to sleep.

Satisfied with the information that was now confirmed, Gray and Erza decided that they needed help on this one, and they knew exactly who to ask...

* * *

The next day, the guild was its usual self as Lucy Heartfilia bounced through the doors.

"Ohio, min-na!"

"Ahhh, Lucy-san you seem quite cheerful today. I bet you couldn't get any more happier even if you tried hmmm?" Replied Mira from behind the bar. Confused by what she meant, Lucy went over and ordered a drink so that the barmaid couldn't escape her.

"What do you mean by that?" Lucy asked with a confused yet cute look on her face. Mira just looked at her with a smile and blushing cheeks.

"Oh, nothing much. Say, Master needs some records from the annex and asked me to get them, however I'm so rushed off my feet, I don't have time to go get them. Would you mind doing it for me? There's something so interesting down there, I'm sure you'll be surprised!"

Agin, confused by her choice of words, just as Lucy was about to, again, ask what she meant by that and what records she needed, Mira ha rushed over to another customer and so she decided she'd just wing it. Getting up from the stool and finishing off her drink, Lucy made her way to the annex. Lucy loved going down there, with all the books and history that were stored there, she wished she could just live there. However, after that one time when her, Natsu, Gray and Erza were sucked into the past, she was a bit weary.

Making her way down the steps, it was only then that she realised that there was a figure there, looking up she saw it was Natsu.

"Natsu! What're you doing down here, and where's Happy?"

"Oh, he's upstairs pestering Charle with fish. And the, uh, the other reason I'm here is... well... because, I kinda need to tell you something"

"What?" She replied with a kind smile on her face and her hazel eyes look at him, Mavis she was beautiful. But this just made more nervous, but her eyes gave him the strength to just say it, as if begging him to go on, so he did.

"I love you"


	8. Chp 8 - Solitude, my old friend

"I love you"

Lucy couldn't speak, she couldn't move. Her brain tried to process what had just happened about 1000 times, yet she still didn't get it. She knew she needed to say something, but her mouth just hung open like a fish's. Natsu took this chance to continue further, giving him higher hopes.

"For a while now, I've had these... strange, feelings. It wasn't until recently and some events that happened for me to realise what it was. Uh..." Silence. A long gap before he attempted to carry on. "Crap! You know I'm not good at things like this. It wasn't until Happy, Erza and that ice bastard told me that I suddenly realised that I was jealous of you and Trevor"

Having understood what she needed to, Lucy tried to convey her feelings into words back to him.

"Natsu. I-"

"No, I need to say this to you Lucy. I don't care if you're with Trevor, you don't deserve him! We've been close friends for years, why now did you have to date someone, especially if it wasn't me..."

Lucy knew he wasn't expecting an answer. His face told it all. He was starting to avoid her gaze, maybe it could have had something to do with embarrassment or the realisation of what he's just done. But when she saw the look on his face, she knew he was thinking about something, deeply.

He cleared his throat, then stared straight at her, all expressions gone from his face, meaning he knew that she was reading it, now making it harder to see what he was doing at all. Damn it, he was smart in doing that.

"Lucy, seeing you two together, it made me feel like I was an actual Dragon. I would go mad whenever someone just said anything about you. I'd start getting into more fights, which may seem impossible, but trust me it happened"

He saw Lucy laugh a little at this. Her face lighting up after being pale and blank. That little gesture, whilst small, just lit him up inside. He couldn't help but grin too. But the matter was still at hand.

"Anyway, I just wanted to roar. I'd go into the forest and just scream, Mavis knows for how long. And, like I said before, the others caught onto this. They judged that I was jealous and should tell you, then they went"

He looked at her square in the eyes, and got a small nod to encourage him to go on. She'd stayed this long, so she must have had a reason. He hoped that she felt the same, because if she didn't, then why would Lucy, the most lady-like person he knew, hear a love confession from somebody else if she was already dating someone?

He cleared his throat before starting again.

"So, I came into the guild the next day, which was this morning, and Mira came over to me, said she knew everything and told me to come down here and wait. She didn't say why, said she'd come down later. But knowing Mira, now I know why she lied"

Lucy smiled, "Ahh, so that's why Mira sent me down here" Natsu looked at her a little confused.

Hang on, when did Natsu get so close to her? He was standing right in front of her, but with a several centimetre gap between them. She put that aside, and remembered that he wanted an answer. "Oh, aha. She told me that the Master wanted something from down here, but she was too busy to go get it, so asked if I could. However, she didn't say what it was that she needed. And she also said I might find a surprise down here. Boy was she right" She mumbled the last part, but knew his sensitive hearing would still catch it.

He smiled, but only a little one, and she thought that it looked sad, a sad smile. She had never seen that on Natsu before. He was always the optimistic one, the one that the whole guild has their faith and trust in. They'd been through hell and back, and this was what caused him to be sad?! Her heart shattered for him. She was the cause of his unhappiness. She loved Natsu, whilst before it would have been as a friend, recently her body started doing strange things around him, such as her heart beating faster than normal, or she'd feel her cheeks burning, as if they were constantly blushing. Of course, reading as many romance novels as she did, she soon realised that it wasn't friendship she wanted. She may have been nervous about her first kiss with Trevor, but when she came across Natsu, the idea of practicing with him just popped into her head, but with Natsu, she didn't feel nervous. In fact, she was terrified afterwards, because it had felt so right. She wanted to be with him, she really did.

If only he'd told her sooner.

She was just so confused at what to do now.

Oh no, she was tearing up.

Natsu saw this and his eyes widened. He wasn't expecting her to cry! Mind you, he didn't know what she was crying about. It could've been about anything for Mavis' sake, like how she's missed a book she hasn't read for a few years. Okay he knew it wasn't that, rather it was him and Trevor and how he'd just sprung this upon her.

He'd rather it was the book thing.

Feeling rather awkward just standing there, watching her cry, he walked right up to her, encompassed her into his arms and held her tight as her tears flowed. She buried her face into his chest, hands rather tightly gripped onto his clothing and just sobbed.

Neither of them knew how long they were there, until Natsu finally spoke as softly as he could to her, "What the hell are you crying about, Lucy?"

"Because you're such an idiot, Natsu"

"You're crying about that! You more then anybody should be used to that by now. I'm the king of idiots"

She smiled heartily into his shirt. He had a point. The warmth radiating from him made her feel better almost instantly, but she was just enjoying being held by him, almost like he was protecting her from the sadness. He'd protect her from anything if he had the chance, but that wouldn't be fair to her because only he knew how strong she really was, both physically and emotionally after all the crap he's basically put her through.

"Look at me, Lucy" His voice distracted her from her thoughts, yet she obliged. She looked deep into his eyes, his smile soft when he looked at her. He brought one hand that was holding her to her face and wiped the dry tear tracks from her face. She embraced his touch and closed her eyes until he was done.

Natsu took in her beautiful face whilst her eyes were closed and head looking slightly down. Her cheeks were blushing a nice rose colour, just like the smell of her, and her lips looked soft, just like the last time they kissed. She was beautiful, which made him grab this opportunity while she was distracted. He leaned down and placed his lips lightly over hers, and just stayed there.

Naturally she was surprised, but because her body knew, her brain knew, she leaned into it and kissed him back.

Whilst it wasn't passionate, as several members of the guild try to brag about when they go out with women, it didn't need to be. It was soft and full of unsaid feelings. The way they just melted into one another, Natsu thought that they were a match. His arms were around her waist and her hands clutching his vest. Natsu couldn't care less how much time they spent like that, if time was moving at all. She was kissing him, and she was in his arms, he could die right now without a single care. Well, maybe one, he didn't want to die actually kissing Lucy, what a waste that would be, maybe after. Maybe.

He guessed they'd been kissing a while, as he was completely out of breath, but considering how much bigger Dragon Slayers lungs were to ordinary peoples, he guessing Lucy must have been needing it for a while. So, regretfully, they both broke apart.

They both gasped for breath, panting hard trying to regain it all. After they had enough, he looked down at her, cheeks flushed and lips apart. She was gorgeous, he was trying so hard not to grab her hand and take her home, just so they could kiss all evening without a damn.

He went to lean in again, but she pulled her head back so he missed. He looked confusingly at her. She just shook her head.

"Natsu, I understand how you feel. However..." She paused for a few moments, thinking, all the while he was just staring at her. "However, I need to sort some stuff out. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry" She ducked her head so that he couldn't see her eyes filling up, stepped away from him, and ran up the stairs and out of the annex.

Natsu just stood there, feeling a loss of warmth from where she was, and just stood there, silent and at a loss of what to do now.

* * *

A few days later, Natsu hasn't shown up to the guild since that... incident... and neither has Lucy. Both of them missing has been causing concern for the guild, not even Gray, Erza or Mira fully understanding what was going on, just guessing that it mustn't have been good.

In reality, Natsu had stayed in his bed at home, curled up trying to think of happy thoughts and forget what had happened. Happy tried to ask him what was wrong every day, but he changed the subject and told him to go on without him, he'd show up later. So Happy went, waiting for Natsu to show. He never did.

Meanwhile, Lucy hadn't been showing up because she was thinking things over, deeply and thoroughly. Sometime she would stay in bed, sometimes she would get up and start pacing her apartment, and sometimes, but not often for fear she'd bump into either men on her mind, she would go take a walk around Magnolia. It took her days, but she thought she'd finally made her decision.

She hoped it was the right one, as it could mean trouble for her and her teammate, maybe even a drifting apart, meaning a moving of guilds for her.

She was on the phone, waiting for Trevor to pick up. She'd meet up with him first, to sort out the key point of this whole ordeal before moving on to the rest of the pieces.

"Hello?" His voice woke her up from her thoughts, how long had he been on the phone?

"Um, hi, it's Lucy"

The next few minutes consisted of little chit chat, how are you etc. etc. before Lucy got to the point.

"Hey, would you mind coming over to my apartment this evening? I have something I kinda need to talk to you about" Lucy asked hesitantly, there was only a short pause before he answered, "Sure, is 6 o'clock okay?"

She agreed that was fine, then they said goodbye and she hung up.

 _'Well, on with the show'_

* * *

Without realising, Lucy had fallen asleep as soon as she hung up with Trevor. It wasn't until a knock on the door and the pink and orange colours dancing in the sky with each other did she realise that it was evening and that that knock on the door was Trevor. Everything came flooding back to her, this was it.

She sat up and stretched, her hair mussed and eyes only half open. She looked goddess like no matter what she did.

She got up and walked over to the door. Trevor was wearing casual clothes, but with a long open trench coat on top.

"Hey, you seemed a bit upset on the phone, everything okay?"

Lucy didn't even know the answer to that herself. So she just invited him to sit on the couch.

"Do you want anything to drink?"

"No, I'm fine thanks" So Lucy just poured herself half a glass of wine and downed it, she needed her strength, both emotionally and mentally for this and wine fixes everything.

She then moved to sit on the opposite end of the couch to him, turned slightly so that she could look at him without crinking her neck and said...

"We need to break up"

At this, Trevor just smiled, his eyes turning from emerald to a crimson red. He had a sickening grin, growing on his face as he said,

"Pitiful humans"


End file.
